Paul
the apostle exhorted the Corinthians church members concerning eating
and drinking of “the Lord's supper”
as he told
them to, “let a man examine himself,
and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup”.
In
chapter eleven and verse twenty-nine of First Corinthians, Paul
shared with the church members how the person who “eats
and drinks unworthily, eats
and drinks damnation to himself”,
where we read:
For he
that eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks damnation to
himself,
not
discerning the Lord's body.
The verse begins, “For
he that eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks damnation to
himself, ...”. Paul
began with the word, “for”
which means “even as, indeed, no doubt, seeing then, verily and
therefore” “he that eats” or
“the person who consumes and devours” “and
drinks”
which means “and imbibes” “unworthily”
which means
“in an unworthy and irreverent manner”, “eats”
or “devours and consumes” “and
drinks” which
means “imbibes” “damnation”
or “judgment, punishment, condemnatory sentence and penal judgment”
“to himself”
which refers to the “man himself”. Paul declared, if someone
partakes of “the Lord's supper”
in an “irreverent” manner, that person brings “punishment and
penal judgment” upon themselves.
The
verse continues, “... not
discerning the Lord's body.” Paul
added the words, “not discerning”
which means
“not making distinction and discrimination” “the
Lord's” or
“he to whom a person or thing belongs, about which he has power of
deciding; master and the title given to God the Messiah's” “body”
which means “corpse”. Because the person partakes of “the
Lord's supper”
in an “irreverent manner”, they demonstrate how they do not value
the sacrificial “body”
of Jesus.
When
we think through these words from Paul, we see how important it is to
participate in “the Lord's supper” in an “unworthy”
manner. The church members certainly didn't want to bring
“damnation” upon themselves, and neither should anyone who
partakes of “the Lord's supper”, so they and we must
“discern” the value of “the Lord's body” as we receive
“communion”. When we “remember” through “the Lord's
supper” what Jesus did for us on the cross and how he was
resurrected from the dead, we enjoy beautiful intimacy with God.
Next
time Paul tells the church members, “for
this cause many are weak and sickly among you”,
so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until tomorrow…there is more…
Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.
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